Trump weighs extending travel ban to 36 countries
The Trump administration is considering a significant expansion of its travel ban, adding nationals from 36 additional countries – including Syria and Egypt – according to The National and agencies on 15th June.
An internal US State Department cable, signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and circulated to diplomatic missions on 14th June, outlined a range of concerns about the listed countries and set a 60-day deadline for them to address shortcomings or face possible entry restrictions.
“The Department has identified 36 countries of concern that may be recommended for full or partial suspension of entry if they do not meet established benchmarks and requirements within 60 days,” the cable stated.
Reasons cited in the document include governments’ inability or unwillingness to provide reliable identity documents, “questionable security” related to their passports, and a lack of co-operation in repatriating nationals ordered removed from the United States.
The cable also drew attention to visa overstays, terrorism-related activity, anti-Semitism, and anti-American conduct by nationals from some of the listed countries – although it stressed that not all criteria apply to each country.
The countries that could face a full or partial ban if they do not address these concerns within the 60-day deadline include Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
This new internal directive emerges merely a week after President Trump reinstated his first-term travel ban, which imposed a full entry prohibition on 12 countries and additional travel limitations on seven others.
The National/ Agencies/ Maghrebi.org
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